How Many Feet Does it Take to Fill Steven Jackson’s Shoes?

(Part of a five-part series of Heading into Camp articles. Check back this weekend and next week!)

The Rams offense used to consist of Steven Jackson and a bunch of guys you never heard of. Now, Jackson is gone. But that does not doom the Rams to irrelevance. Their defense, their rebuilt receiving corps, and their knack for luring the 49ers and Seahawks into ugly slugfests put them in position to be the NFL’s biggest spoilers this year, if not a Wild Card dark horse.

It all comes down to the Jackson-less running game. Sam Bradford has been inching forward as a quarterback despite minimal weapons, and the rebuilt receiving corps – minus Danny Amendola but plus tight end Jared Cook, two fine West Virginia projects (Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey), and the speedy fruits of last year’s draft (Brian Quick and Chris Givens) – is suddenly deep, versatile, and dangerous. But with Jackson gone, there is no known commodity in the backfield. A pair of second-year backs and a rookie will try to fill the only big shoes left in what shrunk over the last few years into a Buster Brown offense.

Let’s take a closer look at the trio of Rams running backs, what they have done in the past, and what the team can expect in 2013.

Daryl Richardson was an unheralded seventh round pick from Abilene Christian who caught the football world’s eye when he rushed 11 times for 83 yards — including a 53-yard run, an 18-yard reception, and a two-point conversion — in the Rams’ Week Two victory over the Redskins. Jackson was benched for much of that game for spiking the ball during a hissy fit, giving Richardson his big break. Richardson earned an enhanced role in the offense for a few weeks after that game, with 11 carries against the Dolphins and several 7-to-9 carry games (plus some catches), and he finished the season with an impressive 98-475-4.8 stat line, but zero touchdowns.

Richardson is what those of us who write a lot of scouting reports would call “a change-up back who lacks special qualities.” He has speed to the edge, hits the hole hard, cuts pretty well, does his best to deliver a blow when he finishes a run, and can catch. On the flip side, he is small, breaks few tackles (seven last year), and gets dragged down at the end of his long runs because he lacks a breakaway gear. There are dozens of players who share variations on that scouting report, making them good committee backs, backups, and spot starters, but not players who elevate the offense.

Despite a gaudy per-carry average, Richardson was rated as just an average rusher by Football Outsiders, earning a DVOA of 1.6%. Three long runs, including the two mentioned earlier and a 44-yarder against the Dolphins, account for 27% of his total production. Richardson committed two costly fumbles, one against the Redskins (late in the game while trying to eat the clock; the Redskins could not capitalize) and a second against the Jets (fourth quarter, trailing while in Jets territory, ball poked out from behind). Richardson’s role dried up after the second fumble. Another small bit of distortion in Richardson’s stats comes from the number of third-and-long carries he received. Richardson took handoffs on 3rd-and-12 or more six times, producing zero first downs as the Rams kept things simple and prepared to punt.

Despite Richardson’s status as the frontrunner for the starting job, there have been rumblings in St. Louis about a committee system. Jeff Fisher used the dreaded “ball in space” phrase to describe Richardson’s role, which means the head coach is thinking about screens and draws, and probably a seat on the bench during early downs. (When a defense-oriented coach says that he wants to get the ball to a player in space, it is like a pretty girl saying you are like a big brother to her. Defensive coaches don’t like space.)

The Rams drafted Isaiah Pead in the second round last season with every intention of making him Jackson’s change-up back, and possibly his heir apparent. Pead rushed for over 1,000 yards, with solid receiving production, for the Cincinnati Bearcats in his junior and senior seasons. He then earned MVP honors at the Senior Bowl. For all the accolades, Pead looked like a change-up back who lacked special qualities. He’s a cutback runner with good quickness to the hole and soft hands, but he is small and … you get the idea.

Richardson outplayed Pead in 2012 training camp, with Pead producing one of the ugliest preseason performances I have ever seen: six rushes for a loss of five, two receptions for a loss of three against the Chiefs. (He did score a one-yard touchdown, his longest run or catch of the day). Pead played some special teams but only took significant offensive snaps in the blowout loss to the Patriots and the season finale against the Seahawks, when the Rams knew Jackson was history.

Pead has a more physical rushing style than Richardson. He’s a downhill type who gets lower than his defenders and drops his shoulder when finishing a run. Overall, though, Pead and Richardson have similar strengths and weaknesses, so assigning one or the other to third down or goal line duty will not make much sense.

Fifth-round pick Zac Stacy stands out on tape. A 5-foot-9, 215-pound bowling ball, Stacy has thighs like tree trunks and ankles like thighs. He bounces off tackles and barrels through small holes for solid gains. Vanderbilt used him often as a Wildcat-type player, taking the snap and hammering the line behind a blocking back or two. He also threw some option passes. He’s a lot of fun to watch, despite some clear holes in his game. Stacy is strictly a screen pass receiver, he lacks breakaway speed, and there is plenty of padding in his 1,141 rushing yards last year: 174 yards against Presbyterian, 83 in (mostly) garbage time in a drubbing by Georgia.

People who follow the Rams closely are comparing Stacy to Alfred Morris, the unheralded rookie who became a 1,600-yard rusher for the Redskins last season. Stacy and Morris are similarly built, and Stacy played in a read-option heavy college offense, but Brian Schottenheimer is not Mike Shanahan, with his Svengali knack for manufacturing 1,000-yarders. That said, Stacy will play a role in the Rams offense, and it could be a big one.

Conclusion: If this were the 1980s or early 1990s, Stacy would win the featured back role and carry the ball 25 times per game, with Pead and Richardson competing for a half dozen receptions and those wonderful 3rd-and-20 draw plays. But this is 2013, and there are only a handful of teams which emphasize the run that way. A power back with limited receiving chops like Stacy must settle for 12-15 carries unless the Rams are playing with a big lead (which won’t happen much). Pead and Richardson are competing for the receiver-back role that may result in more snaps and touches; they may well end up splitting it. Frankly, I have not seen enough to separate the two; I would lean toward Pead only because I watched him practice in Alabama 18 months ago and know a little more about him.

The biggest problem the Rams face is that the only back who has “special qualities” is Stacy, and he is an unproven player whose portable battering ram style may not be all that useful in a non Redskins-Texans-type offense. It would have been great to see what Jackson could do against defenses that were legitimately threatened by the passing game. To see that, we will have to find game tape from 2006, or watch the Falcons. As it is, the Rams have three capable runners, but they do not necessarily add up to one truly gifted one.